


The Ancestors Are Among Us

by Haunted_Frost



Category: Naruto
Genre: Edo Tensei, Fix-It, Gen, One Shot, Orochimaru (Naruto)-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-25
Updated: 2020-09-25
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:54:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26641750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Haunted_Frost/pseuds/Haunted_Frost
Summary: Orochimaru sighed.“I’m going to get roped into this, aren’t I?”“It’s your own fault for wanting a zombie army, sensei,” chirped Anko.Or: Orochimaru comes up with a much less horrifying version of Edo Tensei, and accidentally fixes a lot because of it.
Comments: 23
Kudos: 267





	The Ancestors Are Among Us

**Author's Note:**

> This was fun and I had to post it - I have a lot more Naruto stuff in the works, but this one was definitely closest to finished.

It was, ironically, Anko’s fault that he came up with the idea. 

She’d tripped and the papers she’d been carrying to sort and file had flown across the floor. Mostly his research regarding Tobirama’s various experiments—from Edo Tensei to medical jutsu to the Flying Thunder God technique—along with some rudimentary summoning scrolls. When he leaned down to pick them up, he’d paused, because—

Edo Tensei. Summoning contract. _Hm._

The two theories were entirely separate concepts, normally. And though perfecting the original jutsu was possible, it also stood at a heavy cost—killing one person for the sake of reanimating another, while possible, wasn’t exactly _economical_. Even in war. Plus, if he continued down that line, he’d likely have more than just a lecture on morality from sensei to face. If he could reconfigure it more like a summoning, then the cost would be more blood and more chakra, rather than an entire corpse—

Ah, consent would probably be required, too. It would at least knock a few minutes off of the inevitable lecture. But he couldn’t confirm consent from anyone already dead, unless he was certain they would appreciate his attempts. Perhaps Tobirama himself.

Once the idea came to him, he didn’t exactly drop it for a month—had Anko working on smaller projects and training in the meantime. He waved off Danzo when he offered a new lab and more subjects—he couldn’t exactly move his project in the middle of everything, and he could always expand it himself later. His research mode was rather . . . intense, and though he could still fend off an assassination within moments should someone break in, his ability to read social cues was lowered even further. So he hadn’t made the connection between Danzo’s offer with anything surreptitious. Later, Jiraiya would probably laugh at him for it. 

“Sensei,” he said absently while filing paperwork in the Hokage’s office, “When did Danzo get a lab? I wasn’t aware he was interested in jutsu experimentation. If we’re going to split available subjects, I’d like to discuss which ones I take for my purposes.”

Apparently, Danzo was not supposed to have a lab, or subjects. Apparently, he’d been kidnapping village children— _infants_ —and had been growing his own sub-ANBU group. Apparently, he had asked Orochimaru to join him so that he could push boundaries further with a convenient scapegoat. Apparently, Orochimaru had been too deep into a thirty-six hour stint of experimentation to notice that proposition for what it was. 

When he and Hiruzen came to that conclusion, well. Research could wait, in the midst of finding a traitor amongst their ranks, along with a bunch of missing children and a toddler with Mokuton. 

Orochimaru ended up taking the child and an infant with white hair that wouldn’t let go of him. 

“What is your name?” he’d asked. 

“Dunno.”

“Tenzo, then. And this one?”

“Kabuto, I think. Danzo-sama said.”

“Mm.” No one tried to stop him from taking them in, which he thought was rather a miracle. Jiraiya laughed when he expressed this. 

“No one wants to get in the way of the mama-snake,” he said, “You’re already super protective of them. 

And there wasn’t time to research just then, but he managed it. And he _succeeded._

* * *

“Nidaime-sama. A pleasure to meet you,” he said. The black eyes with red irises narrowed, taking in his surroundings. 

“What is this? Who are you?”

“A continuation of your Edo Tensei. Less overall powerful, but also less cost. I figured that my first attempt ought to be you, so you could look over my notes. I plan on presenting it to the Hokage—it’s somewhere between your original attempts and a summoning. My name is Orochimaru; I am Sarutobi Hiruzen’s student. You probably don’t remember me.” 

“Mm—Tsuna’s teammate, I remember. You’ve decided to continue my work?” He took the notes, glancing over them. 

“It ran adjacent to my own.”

“I see. The original would have summoned me from the Pure Lands with a vague memory of what had passed since I died. It also would have left me stronger than I believe this version does.”

“This one has a similar drawback to another jutsu of yours—shadow clones.”

“That _would_ cut down on the—yes, I believe you’ve succeeded where I’ve failed, in that regard. And I can dismiss myself?”

“Or I can dismiss you. Obviously, with the amount of chakra, it would take stronger shinobi, and it’ll likely be a kinjutsu. Jiraiya’s student has nearly perfected the flying thunder god, so your research has rather outlived you.”

“It has. Tell me, is Hiruzen still Hokage?”

“He’ll likely retire soon.”

“Good—if you’re an adult now, then he must be—”

“Getting on in age, yes. May I summon you again for demonstration purposes?”

“Of course.”

* * *

“ _Sensei_?” Sarutobi choked. 

“Your student has surpassed the both of us, Hiruzen,” he said, mildly amused. 

“ _That_ I knew, but—this is incredible. And you say it’s similar to shadow clones, yes, Orochimaru-kun?”

“In terms of chakra drainage, it’s a little less, though like a summoning, I’ve created contracts in order to facilitate new summons and keep enemies from taking from others’ graves for DNA. Facing your fallen allies on a battlefield would be . . . unpleasant. I’d rather not give anyone the chance to test it. Essentially, during the first summoning of a particular individual, you must gain consent for the ability to summon them again.” 

Sometimes, people didn’t want to be summoned, and that was where it ended. However, the technique _did_ provide closure for some families regardless, and those that did offer permission became as common to see as any summons might be. 

A young jounin—Kakashi, he recalled—approached him to learn the jutsu one day. Then, he returned, demanding to know why it hadn’t worked. Minato’s genius student so rarely snapped in anger lately that it was certainly a surprise. Still, he shrugged, and asked about who he was trying to summon, and for a demonstration. 

Apparently, he wanted to summon Obito Uchiha, his dead teammate, to say a proper goodbye. The problem was, if he was understanding the chakra reactions that were occurring—

“There is only one reason the jutsu would react like that,” he said firmly. “You’re doing it correctly, of course, but it’s hard to summon a dead person when they’re currently alive.” Kakashi blinked, and then he paled considerably. 

“Obito’s _alive?!”_

With little else to say, Kakashi bolted, presumably to talk to Namikaze about a rescue operation. He sighed. 

“I’m going to get roped into this, aren’t I?”

“It’s your own fault for wanting a zombie army, sensei,” chirped Anko. He hummed, displeased, because that was a crude explanation for his work, but arguing would just make her more smug. He didn’t want her influencing Kabuto or Tenzo more than necessary. 

* * *

The longer time passed, the farther range was possible to search for a missing Uchiha. It had been a month and a half, so there was pretty much anywhere. Since no village had reported seeing an Uchiha outside of Fire Country, Orochimaru figured that either someone had kidnapped him for his doujutsu and was keeping it under wraps, or he wasn’t in a village. Boltholes for missing nin and other individuals weren’t uncommon, after all. 

It certainly helped that between Hatake’s ninken and Minato’s Hiraishin, they were able to cover ground quickly. 

When Pakkun picked up a scent around Mountain’s graveyard, they gathered a team—an Inuzuka Doton user in case of cave-ins, the rest of Obito’s team, Orochimaru himself, and Hizashi Hyuga to look for chakra signatures. 

There was a strange creature that greeted them with an attack once they’d gotten to a cave entrance—a man-plant-thing that looked disturbingly like the first Hokage. 

It was a good thing he had been raising and training Tenzo—the Mokuton was less of a trump card when one of them knew its weaknesses. 

It was also a good thing that Kakashi was on the team, as no one expected _Uchiha fucking Madara_ within the caves, hooked up to a strange chakra-emitting statue. 

Much as he’d have loved to pick the man’s brain on life-extending techniques, he was much more grateful that Kakashi was able to activate his Sharingan to break the genjutsu Madara was no doubt attempting to put on them all. 

The fight was intense, but short-lived—there was something to be said for numbers, after all—and in the aftermath they found Obito in a makeshift hospital bed, implanted with similar matter to the creature they’d fought outside. Rin assisted Orochimaru in examining him, and Minato found a compulsion seal on his heart that they worked together to break. Kakashi was gripping his friend’s hand the entire time, Sharingan out and streaming tears. 

Whatever Madara had done to keep Obito under was strong, but Rin estimated it would last a few hours more at most without another dose, and they’d be better off treating him partially there to make transport easier than to do anything else. While the rest tended to Obito and to their own wounds, there were other important things to settle.

Orochimaru did the sensible thing and summoned Madara from the dead with his variation of Edo Tensei to pick the man’s brain about the whole thing in a less dangerous setting. The Uchiha was stubborn, and they didn’t have a ton of time, but yes—they were Hashirama’s cells grafted onto Obito, and he spilled the plan Zetsu had created to force a Mangekyo activation. Minato grimaced through the whole thing, and Rin looked close to puking. 

Orochimaru flatly asked him if he’d make a contract to be summoned again, ignoring incredulous splutters. 

“Your power could be infinitely useful to others. If I had your brother’s DNA, I could do the same for him—”

“My eyes are his,” Madara said abruptly. “Don’t ask why. If this summoning works as you say, then I will make a contract so long as he is offered one, too. I will not allow anyone outside of the Uchiha clan to sign it.”

Orochimaru nodded and created the contract scroll, doubling it for when he summoned Izuna. 

The other dead Uchiha was much less helpful, information-wise, but he did agree to create a contract under the same conditions Madara had. 

“Why would you allow Madara, our oldest missing-nin, to make a contract for the Leaf?” asked Minato in a halting, high-pitched tone. 

“Well, he can’t harm his summoners,” Orochimaru shrugged. “It’s not like he’ll do any damage. He hasn’t had contact with most of the living people in the village—the elders were children when he defected—so perhaps someone will make use of him.” 

Despite their kinship over studying new seals and jutsu, Minato still seemed squeamish over Orochimaru’s pragmatic approach to human life. They were both shinobi; it seemed so hypocritical, but he was hardly going to point it out to the blonde while he was clearly still distressed about his student. 

“He kidnapped Obito—if Obito makes a contract with him, he can kind of kidnap him back by summoning him in the village all the time,” said Rin. Kakashi chuckled. 

“That would make a great excuse—sorry I’m late, I was showing old man Madara around the market.”

“Shuddup, Bakashi,” grumbled Obito as he stirred, with amazing and also terrible timing.

* * *

Most of the ninja that disapproved of his technique were either retired old fools who thought themselves above practicality or young, idealistic fools who still clung to more stringent ideals about how human life ought to be treated. Of course, there was always a promising youth or two that found interest in it—Kabuto in particular endeared himself to quite a few shinobi that had created contracts upon their death. The boy was rather fascinated with the whole thing. 

Obito didn’t summon Madara often, but he acted rather like a pissed-off cat whenever Orochimaru saw him around in the village, so he supposed Rin wasn’t far off in her assumptions. 

(He doesn’t have much of a reason to push his experimentation beyond its limits. There’s no rush—no purpose to search for immortality when death isn’t the final void depriving him of learning, changing, growing. It’ll be an interesting time when he finds someone powerful enough and willing enough to summon him.)

* * *

Some years later:

Konoha is known for its clingy nature and focus on teamwork. If you’re on a mission with a Konoha nin, you know your comrade will be at your back and trust you to do the same. It’s garnered them a reputation of sorts, a sort of infantile “friendship and cooperation” village that’s too soft to truly go down dark paths. 

But they are still shinobi. 

Darkness of a different variety, like Danzo’s manipulations or the near-civil-war the Uchiha had over an attack from an infiltrator that looked mildly like them, that wasn’t something they were immune to. They just grew beyond it, to use one of many tree metaphors. 

The other villages might think them soft and sentimental, right up until a genin with golden hair and whisker-marks whips out a contract and summons the _fucking Shodaime’s wife_ in the middle of his chunin exams using Orochimaru’s technique. Orochimaru has to fight Jiraiya to train the kid, and he fails—so, to spite him, he grabs the kid’s _rival_ and offers him the snake contract and kenjutsu lessons. 

Uchiha Sasuke, desperate to show his worth outside of his brother’s shadow as a member of the clan and grateful that he’s not the only member of his team not to snatch a Sannin. A driven child, and one that seemed to feel completely at home assisting in the lab as well, which kicked Kabuto into a fervor to prove that he was still worthy—whatever that meant to him. 

Namikaze Minato took one look at the whole mess and decided the paperwork probably wasn’t worth it, so he just let it happen, and he hoped that Naruto wouldn’t have to make too many trips to the hospital in the process of being simultaneously a ball of sunshine and a proficient necromancer.

**Author's Note:**

> In this 'verse Naruto is both sunshine and a necromancer, which I find neat. Even more friendship-related powers for him!


End file.
